Recently, I've been working around some loud machinery. Around that loud machinery, I wear ear protectors. This is a necessary thing, so I'm not deafened, but it made me think of an allegory to how I am and should live my life. Allow me to elaborate.
Friday, March 20, 2015
Friday, March 6, 2015
Reading in Community
Two things have been on my mind lately. One of them is that I just recently listened to The Bible as Literature podcast episode Broken Records. In this episode, Father Marc Boulos stated that if the reading the entire Bible is too daunting, read one book over, over, and over again in order to really understand it. Then, once that is done, find someone else who has done the same with a different book and learn from each other. If this is done with enough people, then one can learn the entire Bible through the experience of community.
Friday, February 27, 2015
Movie Review: Ida
Friday, February 20, 2015
Pop the Bubble
Well, I'm back. On the 5th of February, I left on a missions trip to Costa Rica. I remained there until the 15th; praying, working, playing, and fellowshipping with people from Costa Rica and with people from the States.
The interesting thing about this trip was that everyone in the group which traveled down there was from my area. And we had been having meetings for months beforehand, so I vaguely knew them (or, at least, recognized them) by the time we arrived in Costa Rica. Funnily, what struck me the most about all of them was that even though we lived in such close proximity, our ideologies were so different. This wasn't a small bit of theology like baptizing forward or backward, this was vast differences in theology. This was differences in how we looked at the world. Sure, the basis was same, we were all Christians, but when we got to the finer points of theology our views differed.
For me, a homeschooler that's used to only interacting with different people over the internet, this was quite disorienting. And I was having a difficult enough time as it was (I don't like traveling to begin with) but when I had to face having my bubble broken, it was near terrifying.
Yet, it was probably the best thing that could have happened to me.
See, it is easy to be theologically and emotionally firm when there are no conflicts that I must face. As long as everyone agrees with me, I have no inner conflict of whether I am right or not. Yet, without conflict there is no growth. My comfort zone must be breached, my bubble must be popped in order for me to truly develop as a person. I hate it (oh, I hate it), but it is a necessary part of growing up.
How does this relate to writing (as a writer, everything eventually comes back to writing)? A writer should be a traveler. Why? In order to understand how the world works. A good writer should not just create escapist fantasy, but should reveal truths about the world to the reader. In order to reveal those truths, I must learn them myself. In order to reveal them to a reader, I must write a compelling story in which to encapsulate the truths. And in order to write a compelling story, I must understand other people in order to create proper characters, settings, and plots.
So travel is important. Whether it is leaving the continent, the country, or just walking out my front door: meeting other people is important. Experiencing other places is important. Forming relationships is important. But none of that can be done, if my personal bubble pushes them away. In order to experience life, I must pop the bubble.
The interesting thing about this trip was that everyone in the group which traveled down there was from my area. And we had been having meetings for months beforehand, so I vaguely knew them (or, at least, recognized them) by the time we arrived in Costa Rica. Funnily, what struck me the most about all of them was that even though we lived in such close proximity, our ideologies were so different. This wasn't a small bit of theology like baptizing forward or backward, this was vast differences in theology. This was differences in how we looked at the world. Sure, the basis was same, we were all Christians, but when we got to the finer points of theology our views differed.
For me, a homeschooler that's used to only interacting with different people over the internet, this was quite disorienting. And I was having a difficult enough time as it was (I don't like traveling to begin with) but when I had to face having my bubble broken, it was near terrifying.
Yet, it was probably the best thing that could have happened to me.
See, it is easy to be theologically and emotionally firm when there are no conflicts that I must face. As long as everyone agrees with me, I have no inner conflict of whether I am right or not. Yet, without conflict there is no growth. My comfort zone must be breached, my bubble must be popped in order for me to truly develop as a person. I hate it (oh, I hate it), but it is a necessary part of growing up.
How does this relate to writing (as a writer, everything eventually comes back to writing)? A writer should be a traveler. Why? In order to understand how the world works. A good writer should not just create escapist fantasy, but should reveal truths about the world to the reader. In order to reveal those truths, I must learn them myself. In order to reveal them to a reader, I must write a compelling story in which to encapsulate the truths. And in order to write a compelling story, I must understand other people in order to create proper characters, settings, and plots.
So travel is important. Whether it is leaving the continent, the country, or just walking out my front door: meeting other people is important. Experiencing other places is important. Forming relationships is important. But none of that can be done, if my personal bubble pushes them away. In order to experience life, I must pop the bubble.
Friday, February 6, 2015
Book Review: King's Warrior by Jenelle Leanne Schmidt
A few years ago, (sometimes in 2013, I think) I downloaded a free kindle book. It was my first kindle book, because I only had a kindle because it came free on my new computer. As such, the only time I actually read the book was when I had my computer and there was no internet. Basically, it took me a really long time to read. Read it I did, however, and now I'm going to write a review of it! (I'd put in a plot synopsis, but it is really long. Go here if you want to know what it's about.)
A reviewer of this book likened it to Tolkien in its scope and plot. I agree. The world is grand with lots of history and characters and creatures. The world is also big, which means there's lots of walking time. It's not as bad as Tolkien, where he spends pages getting them from one place to another, but there is still a good deal of walking. However, walking allows time for characters and that's a good thing about this book. The characters are fairly well mapped out. None of the characters seem wooden or just thrown in as plot devices. They are fully fledged characters, full of pain and stupidity and moments of brilliance.
What about the plot? The plot is pretty simple, yet complex. There's a lot of stuff going and from multiple points of view. We have the main characters off on their quest (and then they get separated a few times) as well as having the King keeping lookout for attack and the villains attacking. This isn't really spoilery, this is epic fantasy. There's always going to be a group being attacked and a group on a quest and a group of villains attacking. There are certain things about Epic Fantasy that don't change, and this book has all those things.
And that's part of my problem with this book. There's nothing overly wrong with the book in itself (save for a little bad dialogue and some blatant exposition). As far as books go, I've definitely read (and written) worse. The thing is that this book just feels like it has been done before. There's so much stuff so very similar that it almost feels like a rehash. Maybe as the series goes on it will feel a little bit fresher, but I finished this one and just felt like, "Okay, that was an epic fantasy novel". I don't think that's a good thing.
So: would I recommend this book? If you like the genre, go for it. If your a bit tired of the same old, same old... there's not much new here.
Friday, January 30, 2015
January Reading Recap
Earlier this month I talked about some of the highlights from the books I read last year. Unfortunately, I missed a lot of books because I had read so many throughout the year. In order to avoid that this year I'm going to try and do a reading recap every month or so and talk about a few of my favorite reads (or listens, if they were audiobooks). Without that preface, here goes:
1. Marvels by Kurt Busiek
This is a graphic novel. At the beginning of the year, I read a bunch of graphic novels. I gave this one four stars. It's interesting because I gave Superman: Birthright 5 stars, and yet I'm talking about this one. Busiek writes a story of what it would be like for humans to live in the Marvel universe. He shows how humans react to those different than them and wonders how they should react. All in all it was a great read. Now that I talk about it, I'm wondering why I didn't give it five stars... Oh well, no time to think of the past!
2. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Some call this the greatest book ever written. I wouldn't call it the best, but its definitely up there. Karamazov is a long book and it reads like it. There's lots of plot, character development, and philosophy jammed into those many pages. It can sometimes be slow, but this book is such a fascinating read. There's so much to think about in this book. Most prominently is the issue of evil and suffering which plagues every Christian. This book smacked me in the face, and then made me wonder if maybe what I had seen as a problem was the solution in itself. I'll let you decide, which means you have to read this book!
3. The Bacchae by Euripides
Euripides is an author (playwright, rather) I've just started reading and he is great! I started with Alcestis and Hippolytus (both great), then tried The Bacchae. Let me tell you, this is a fascinating read. It is the story of Dionysus (the wine god) who gets mad at a King for being unkind to him, then Dionysus kills him. It makes absolute sense from a logical standpoint. The Greek gods, or Roman for that matter, were not known for being nice. However, what I found amazing was that Jesus, who was hurt twice as badly by humanity, was gracious and not spiteful. I thought this was a great read and I should probably read it again.
4. The Nameless City by Michael Scott
A few months ago I bought a Doctor Who collection of short stories and just now got around to listening to them. Of the five I've listened to so far, this was the best. Scott does a great job of getting into the Second Doctor's head (the narration by Frazer Hines helps a lot) and generally makes it feel like a Second Doctor story. The story itself, while not super deep, is fun and intelligent in its own right. Actually, it did make me think a little about justice and revisionist history. And there's bagpipes! How can you go wrong?
5. King's Warrior by Jenelle Leanne Schmidt
I got this book when it was free on Kindle around two years ago. I've been slowly reading it ever since. It is a fairly good book, if a little slow. I won't say too much about it now, since I'm probably going to do a review of it in the near future. Still, I'd recommend it if one is interested in large scale epic fantasy stories.
Those were some of my favorite, or most interesting, reads of January. What books did you read this month? What did you think of them? Comment below and tell me about it!
1. Marvels by Kurt Busiek
This is a graphic novel. At the beginning of the year, I read a bunch of graphic novels. I gave this one four stars. It's interesting because I gave Superman: Birthright 5 stars, and yet I'm talking about this one. Busiek writes a story of what it would be like for humans to live in the Marvel universe. He shows how humans react to those different than them and wonders how they should react. All in all it was a great read. Now that I talk about it, I'm wondering why I didn't give it five stars... Oh well, no time to think of the past!
2. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Some call this the greatest book ever written. I wouldn't call it the best, but its definitely up there. Karamazov is a long book and it reads like it. There's lots of plot, character development, and philosophy jammed into those many pages. It can sometimes be slow, but this book is such a fascinating read. There's so much to think about in this book. Most prominently is the issue of evil and suffering which plagues every Christian. This book smacked me in the face, and then made me wonder if maybe what I had seen as a problem was the solution in itself. I'll let you decide, which means you have to read this book!
3. The Bacchae by Euripides
Euripides is an author (playwright, rather) I've just started reading and he is great! I started with Alcestis and Hippolytus (both great), then tried The Bacchae. Let me tell you, this is a fascinating read. It is the story of Dionysus (the wine god) who gets mad at a King for being unkind to him, then Dionysus kills him. It makes absolute sense from a logical standpoint. The Greek gods, or Roman for that matter, were not known for being nice. However, what I found amazing was that Jesus, who was hurt twice as badly by humanity, was gracious and not spiteful. I thought this was a great read and I should probably read it again.
4. The Nameless City by Michael Scott
A few months ago I bought a Doctor Who collection of short stories and just now got around to listening to them. Of the five I've listened to so far, this was the best. Scott does a great job of getting into the Second Doctor's head (the narration by Frazer Hines helps a lot) and generally makes it feel like a Second Doctor story. The story itself, while not super deep, is fun and intelligent in its own right. Actually, it did make me think a little about justice and revisionist history. And there's bagpipes! How can you go wrong?
5. King's Warrior by Jenelle Leanne Schmidt
I got this book when it was free on Kindle around two years ago. I've been slowly reading it ever since. It is a fairly good book, if a little slow. I won't say too much about it now, since I'm probably going to do a review of it in the near future. Still, I'd recommend it if one is interested in large scale epic fantasy stories.
Those were some of my favorite, or most interesting, reads of January. What books did you read this month? What did you think of them? Comment below and tell me about it!
Friday, January 23, 2015
Book Review: Dracula by Bram Stoker
A few years ago, I read Frankenstein in a British Literature class, so when I saw it at a book sale my family picked it up so my siblings could read it when they take the class. The version that I saw of Frankenstein had a pairing with Dracula, which gave me the excuse to read it. Interestingly, I had listened to a podcast on monsters around the same time and heard various reviews of the book. From the glowing reviews and the not so entertaining reviews, I was dreading and looking forward to Dracula. Afterwards, I feel somewhat the same, though far more skewed to one side than the other.
The story itself is fairly simple: a solicitor from England travels to Transylvania to help a Count with a property he bought. Upon arrival there, he discovers the Count is more than he appears and finds himself in a race against time to stop the Count from spreading his nefarious ways to England.
If you've heard the name Dracula at all, you probably know he is a vampire. As such, this book presents several fascinating ideas about the correlations between blood and life. A theme I found fascinating was the correlation between Dracula's bringing life through the offering of blood and the Eucharist. Dracula's blood brings earthly life, but results in spiritual death. Christ blood, on the other hand, usually causes Christians to risk their lives because they know that spiritual life, or eternal life, awaits them.
What did I think of this book overall? I found it a bit slow in the middle, but it grabbed my attention at the beginning and end. The end itself, once the final showdown is revealed, is a page-turning read. However, the ideas the book presents, and the storytelling, (along with the fact that the book is a classic) are good enough reasons to read it.
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